. American forestry. Forests and forestry. Southern Appalachian Mountain Field Ruined by Erosion them; the reasoning is from general principles to particulars. Omitting metaphysical subtleties, it may be said that the .general principles which form the starting points may be obtained in either of two ways: they may be truths which the mind perceives or arrives at without experiment or observation, such as the fundamental truths of math- ematics and mechanics; or they may be truths which themselves have been ar- rived at by induction and which are then used as the basis of deductions. Some mind
. American forestry. Forests and forestry. Southern Appalachian Mountain Field Ruined by Erosion them; the reasoning is from general principles to particulars. Omitting metaphysical subtleties, it may be said that the .general principles which form the starting points may be obtained in either of two ways: they may be truths which the mind perceives or arrives at without experiment or observation, such as the fundamental truths of math- ematics and mechanics; or they may be truths which themselves have been ar- rived at by induction and which are then used as the basis of deductions. Some minds instinctively prefer one of these methods, some prefer the other. Some people are only satisfied by statis- tical proof, or what appears to be such. I presume some people would require a statistical proof of a future life ; they would desire to have records of inter- views with departed spirits, to know how many of such departed spirits said they were alive, and how many said they were dead, and whether the proportion of those who said they were alive had increased in recent years. Some minds, on the other hand, seem almost incapa- ble of inductive reasoning. They must start with fundamental principles and reason from them, and if they have no fundamental principles to start with, they will create them from their own imaginations. Clearly, a proper combination of both methods, using each where it is applica- ble, is the basis of reasonable scientific investigation. DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INDUCTIVE METHOD There are several serious difficulties which are likely to be encountered in the application of the inductive method, and many precautions which must be taken if error is to be avoided. In the first place, a very essential point to be observed is, that in order to determine the effect upon Phenomenon B which is exerted by Phenomenon A, the observations or experiments must be so conducted that, of all the elements which may efifect B, all remain constant excepting A. In other w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
